68 Mr Leslie on Lion-hunting in South Africa. 



hunters almost always seek him in the mountains, and occasion- 

 ally one or two will not shun the encounter, if armed with their 

 long and sure rifles, which on almost all occasions they carry. 

 One instance more and I have done. A party of officers a few 

 years previous, along with some boors, discovered a lion, lioness, 

 and two cubs, within a short distance of Hernianus Craal on 

 the frontier. The lion dashed forward to protect his mate and 

 young ones, and attempted to defend them by shielding them 

 with his body, until the officers, moved by his magnanimity of 

 conduct, entreated that he might not be destroyed, but the 

 Dutchmen were inexorable, and they killed him ; the cubs fled 

 and the lioness followed ; but all were found dead of their wounds 

 the succeeding day. 



The above anecdote was related to me by an officer who was 

 an eye-witness. 



MOELMYNE TeNNASSERIM, 



2bth December 1831. 



ON THE CONNEXION WHICH SUBSISTS BETWEEN THE CALYX 

 A^D OVARIUM IN CERTAIN PLANTS OF THE ORDER ME- 



LASTOMACE^. By David Don, Esq. Lihr. L. 5., ^c. 



It is remarkable, that although the MelastomacecB have been 

 a frequent subject of investigation with botanists, no one, with 

 the exception of Mr Brown, appears to have been aware of 

 the peculiar nature of the union which subsists between 

 the calyx and ovarium in most of the plants belonging to 

 that family. The ovarium in these plants is connected with 

 the tube of the calyx by thin, longitudinal plates of cellu- 

 lar tissue, disposed on each side of the depression formed by 

 the insertion of the septa, leaving a tubular space free for 

 the reception of the anthers in the early stage of the flow- 

 er. The number of these plates, however, appears to de- 

 pend more upon the number of the stamina than of the 

 valves of the capsule. This curious arrangement of the sta- 

 mioa in aestivation, appears only to take place in thosa ge- 



